Cryptid Investigations
by MonochromeLibrary
Summary: Cryptids, beings that may or may not exist in the world, their existence, still a mystery to humans. Creatures such as: Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and Chupacabra are known as cryptids. But they are not the only cryptids to 'exist, instead they are beings that have not been identified yet, and they walk with humans.
1. Case 1 - Meeting

_**Disclaimer: Many of the creatures mentioned in this story are from mythologies and other stories, therefore some creatures are fully owned by their original creators, some may not be the same as their originals but they will be sharing the same names. There will be however original creatures as well.**_

_**That's all I hope you all enjoy!**_

* * *

Cryptids, beings that may or may not exist in the world, their existence, still a mystery to humans. Creatures such as: Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and Chupacabra are known as cryptids. But they are not the only cryptids to 'exist', though these cryptids are not defined with the dictionary definition of the term, instead they are beings that have not been identified yet, but their existence is true and while many are hidden, some; walk among the human race.

* * *

Sayaka Maizono is often bombarded with paparazzi, whenever she was in public, being a popular idol and whatnot, so enjoying her day offs were a lot more challenging than the regular teenage girl. She made it work though, with a simple beanie, thick jacket and sunglasses; the next thing she knew she was a regular teenage girl walking through the crowds of people in the busy city of Towa.

One of the ways she enjoys her free time is by reading books that are in the realms of fantasy and imagination, the idol loves the fact that she can escape the stress of her day to day life as an idol. Going into a cafe Maizono ordered herself a cup of coffee before heading to the park where she settled on a bench to enjoy some reading with her latest book.

The book was named Necronomicon; it was a book which consisted of novels and short stories written by the author H.P Lovecraft.

She doesn't know how much time has passed, but her enjoyment from reading had distracted her from realising that she needed to return home before nightfall. So when she did realise, it was already dusk, Sayaka quickly made a break for it, sprinting out of the park and down the streets trying hard not to let her disguise fall off and reveal her identity to the public. So there she went down the roads out of the city and into a suburban area, she finally reached a large building: that was her school, Hope's Peak Academy; a school for students that were considered the best of the best in a field, or at least that was what her version of the school was like.

Yes, Hope's Peak was split into two different campuses, the main building and the Reverse Course; where regular students attend if they are not considered to be what school calls, 'Ultimate Students'. Sayaka was in the former part of that group.

The idol entered the area of the main campus and walked down a small path that led to another building built with wood, unlike the school buildings this was one of the main campus' dormitories. Sayaka opened the front door and took part of her disguise off, her sunglasses which showed her azure coloured eyes and her beanie which held her flowing long hair of the same colour.

"Ah welcome back Maizono-san." a voice greeted, looking up Sayaka was met by an orange haired woman that wore a white frilly apron over what seemed to be a teal coloured suit.

"Miss Yukizome." eyeing the girl's outfit, Yukizome raised an eyebrow in confusion as to why the famous idol was wearing clothes befitting that of someone who did not care for what they wore.

Noticing her stares, Sayaka began to sheepishly laugh, placing a hand on the back of her head as she did, "I wanted to read a good book outside so I went into the city wearing this as a disguise." the idol explained which caused the older woman to giggle.

"Oh I see, well I hope it was a good read." Yukizome said amused, Sayaka nodded in response before politely excusing herself so that she can change.

"Dinner is at 5!" Yukizome shouted as the young female teen ran up the stairs.

When she arrived at her room, Sayaka quickly stripped down and got changed to her regular outfit which was a white and blue sailor outfit with a pink ribbon that's been tied into a bow; she also wore a blue skirt and black thigh high socks, finally she placed three pins on her hair, a tiny one on her left and two larger ones on the right.

Once she was fully dressed she crashed on her bed with the book she was reading before in hand. She opened the book once more and resumed her reading, letting herself be submerged in the tales once more.

Evening went by in a flash for the idol, dinner then a shower then more reading along with studying and before she knew it, lights out.

During that night Sayaka was woken up by the sound of voices outside of her door, at first she paid them no mind thinking she was probably just hearing things from being half - asleep.

"Gizmo get back here!"

The idol's eyes shot open and she sat up turning her head to her door to listen if the voice would appear again; she listened attentively to nothing since whatever she heard before was no longer there. Thinking it was once again her hearing things Sayaka laid back down and closed her eyes in order to let slumber take her over.

"Gizmo!"

There it was again, a voice was just outside her door and she knew she wasn't hearing this one. Slowly she got up from her bed, still in her pajamas and walked over to her door; then opening it by a crack she peeked out and saw there was nothing outside, but still unsure she then opened it more and leaned her head out to get a better view, she turned her head to the left; nothing then she turned to the right and her eyes widened. In the shadows was a silhouette of a person kneeling down, Sayaka couldn't see their face because one it was dark and two, their back was turned to her.

"Jeez I told you not to run off in the night. What will happen if you get caught?" the silhouette stood up and out of pure reflex Sayaka closed her door as not get caught, however she was not fast enough and the shadow just managed to see the door click into a close.

Sayaka was behind her door, covering her mouth, her heart rapidly beating like it was ready to burst. After some time has passed and she had calmed down, Sayaka opened her door once more and looked around once more to see if the stranger was still there.

To her relief they weren't.

* * *

Morning came and it was time for classes, Sayaka sat her classroom in her uniform which was a white collared shirt, brown blazer, black skirt and black thigh high socks with black shoes.

After seeing the intruder in her dorm Sayaka was unable to get proper sleep and this was evident from the fact that several of her classmates had pointed out her fatigued look. Despite her lack of sleep and mind mostly on the intruder, Sayaka was able to perform in her lessons fairly well, though she did have the urge to fall asleep in her math class.

During lunch her tiredness finally caught up with her, she wanted to sleep and she didn't know where she could have one. For some reason despite the main campus only having a select number of students, they still managed to fill every part of the building. The idol thought of returning to the dorms but she knew that they wouldn't allow any student to return to the dorms during school hours. There was only one place left for her to go to: the old building.

The old building was an old campus building that was left alone behind the main campus, Sayaka heard about it when her classmate the Ultimate Clairvoyant said that the place was haunted and that he heard weird noises coming from the building.

Not the type of girl to be afraid of ghosts, Sayaka stomped her way to the old building to search for somewhere to lay down and at that point she didn't care if she was gonna lay on hard wood, she wanted to sleep!

When she arrived Sayaka's mouth was agape and one of her eyes twitching. The building in front of her was a dump, a literal dump! Since the place was made of wood, she could clearly see the moss that had grown on it as well as molds, parts of it were chipping off; and some windows were shattered. From what she could tell, the building was ready to collapse any second, but her tiredness outweighed the fact that she may be in danger. Not hesitating Sayaka entered the run down building and began to search for a place to sleep, it may have been easier if it weren't for the fact that a lot of the classrooms were barricade with old bits of wood or furniture.

During her search for a suitable place to rest, Sayaka began to hear noises coming from within the halls, at first she thought it may have been the wind or birds that managed to enter the building. However when the noises began to become more violent and louder, she could no longer blame nature or wildlife, now she had to think that it was either a person or (if her classmate was right) ghosts. As if working with horror movie and horror game logic, instead of turning around and leaving, Sayaka alternatively walked closer to the direction of the noise!

Floors creaked at every step that the idol took, sweat slowly trickled down on the side of her face, and her heartbeat increasing as she got closer and closer to the source. Sayaka was nervous and afraid, but she was also excited and curious. She's read many horror genre based books, all because they gave the best forms of creatures that are not of the human world, so in the case whatever was making the noise was hostile she had many ways of hiding and avoiding it.

She finally reached the source of the noise, it was coming from a room that was closed behind a set of double doors. Before she decided to enter the room, Sayaka pressed her ear against the door to listen to what's going on inside, for some time she heard some steps then grunting, after that it was pure silence. At that point Sayaka thought that the creature may have gone, but what caught her off guard and sent her falling back was the door suddenly swung open.

With an audible yelp Sayka landed on her butt and when she finally looked up after falling back her blue eyes met with hazel ones.

* * *

Makoto Naegi could be described as average. Average looks, average lifestyle and average skills. He wasn't anyone important like the rest of the students of Hope's Peak's main campus, in fact at first glance one might assume that he's from the Reverse Course along with the students who are 'talentless' but Makoto is not like those students he had a talent or as he would describe it a trait that gave him access to the main campus. That trait was his luck.

Yes, its ridiculous and Makoto thinks so too, he gained his spot on the main campus through sheer luck and a single roll in a lottery. If it weren't for the school confirming that he was indeed accepted, he may have thought that, him winning a spot to be a student in the most prestigious school in Japan was just a joke.

Yet he found himself packing his bag and being brought in front of Hope's Peak's gates on his first day.

The fact that he had incredible luck, was nothing compared to the life Makoto was living in the shadows. In fact, one might even say that this was nowhere near an average life of a highschool student.

"Gizmo get back here!" Makoto called as he ran around the old campus building which he often visited due to a certain creature that made the building its home.

"Ehehehe~!" in front of Makoto was a small furball no bigger than a rabbit, coloured white with brown spots. It was running away from Makoto with a huge amused smile plastered across its furry face as it continued to giggle and allowed the young man to chase him like a hyperactive dog.

This game of cat and mouse soon escalated as time went on, since it led to Gizmo (the little furball) running out of the old building and into the girls dormitory by climbing an open window which it somehow reached. Because he was the one taking care of Gizmo, Makoto had no choice but to follow the furball into the building. This is what led to Sayaka eventually seeing them in the building, though it was just their silhouettes. When Makoto found out that someone had seen them, he knew they had to get out fast but before they did leave the lucky student went up to the door and checked the nameplate that was displayed next to it and of course it showed Sayaka's name.

Makoto, who didn't know that Sayaka didn't know it was him, now had the problem of explaining to Sayaka why he was in the girls' dorm. Only problem was the fact she didn't seem very well and he didn't want to disturb her so in other words he wasn't able to talk to her throughout the morning.

During lunch Makoto goes to the old building to spend lunch with Gizmo, the only reason why he did was so that he can feed the little guy his favourites: an assortment of fruits. After they have eaten Makoto would then just relax or if Gizmo was in the mood to annoy him, run around the room trying to catch the furball after it had stolen something from the luckster. In fact it was the reason why it was believed that the old building was haunted, in actuality it was just Makoto and Gizmo running around the building with Makoto screaming at Gizmo.

Makoto tried his best to keep the existence of little guy a secret from everyone in his school, despite the racket they kept on creating, he had to hide the furball since he was afraid that his classmates may all start to gawk over Gizmo or even worse tell the whole world about his existence, which will also lead to tons of problems, and he knew that one of his classmates had a big enough mouth that they would babble about Gizmo to just about anyone. Luckily for him said classmates is known for their tall tales so maybe them blabbing about the little guy wouldn't be so bad because no one would believe him, but that wasn't a risk he was going to take.

Returning to lunch time, Makoto had just finished eating when Gizmo decided to grab the boy's phone from his pocket and started to run around the room they were in, which was the old principal's office. When he finally got his phone back, he decided to take Gizmo out so that the furball can run around the building like a dog in a new home. However when he opened the door, he heard a yelp and looked down only to see his blue haired classmate on the floor. Her eyes locked with his, both of them surprised with their meeting.

* * *

Now that he has been caught twice, Makoto had no choice but to invite Sayaka into the room to explain to her the situation and about Gizmo, maybe he could have just said that Gizmo was a robot but that option went out the window when Gizmo sat on Sayaka's lap and she began to feel the little guy.

"So, what is he?" Sayaka asked squeezing Gizmo.

Makoto sweated anxiously not really wanting to explain but he had no choice, "He's what you call a gremlin." the boy confessed and Sayaka's face said it all; a mixture of confusion and shock was written all over it.

"A gremlin? Like those from the movie Gremlins?" the idol asked with a raised eyebrow and Makoto only nodded in response. Sayaka then began to guffaw at the lucky student which made him blush a bright red colour out of pure embarrassment, even he knew how ridiculous his answer sounded.

Wiping tears off the corner of her eyes, Sayaka then looked at the luckster again who was still red. Despite her reaction to his answer she knew he wasn't lying, after all he was Makoto Naegi, the most honest boy in her class; so honest that he was practically an open book.

"How is that possible? I thought Gremlins were only in movies." hearing the genuine curiosity in her voice Makoto glanced up at her only to see that she was examining Gizmo.

"Well gremlins actually exist, they're not the same as the one in the movies but they do exist." Sayaka was at awe, her fondness for anything other worldly took over as she began to touch Gizmo all over its body examining every part of him.

"Is he a Mogwai then?"

"No there's such thing all gremlins look the same, the bad ones in the movies don't exist."

"So can you feed him after midnight?"

"Well yeah there's no problem with that."

"What's his name?"

"Gizmo. Like the one in the movies since he looks really similar to him."

"How do you know all gremlins look the same?"

"I've met a lot of them in the past."

"How do you know they haven't mutated yet?"

"That's not possible. Gremlins are like humans in terms of anatomy if they were to consume anything a human cannot the results would be the same. The only thing that's different with gremlins is that they're herbivores whereas humans are omnivores; if gremlins were to consume meat they would immediately vomit or excrete it out."

Sayaka looked at her classmate impressed by how much he knew about the gremlins because these things only ever existed in fiction for her, yet the boy in front of her had been living with them and studying them, which for her was envious since she was a nerd for fictional creatures.

"How come they've never been found?"

"Gremlins usually deep within forests and in burrows, its the main way they protect themselves from predators. Not only that, they can pass off as a rabbit since they are around the same size when fully grown."

Sayaka then asked why he hasn't told anyone about Gizmo and upon hearing her question Makoto's face dropped, an expression of grimace awashed his countenance.

"If the existence of gremlins were to be exposed to the public what would you think would happen?" Makoto asked in a deep serious tone. "Scientists would flock to Japan to find their habitats, capture them and examine them in any way, shape or form. When we are faced with something unknown our first thought is to treat that thing as dangerous. That fear of the unknown is what makes it difficult for humanity to befriend other beings that are not the same, heck we even do it our own race... So do you really think that humans are ready to just co-exist with other creatures, when we can barely co-exist with each other?"

The idol was saddened by the luckster's words, but she knew he was right. She wanted to share her new friend to others but after hearing Makoto explain the consequences of doing such a thing immediately made her change her mind. She didn't want to risk the creatures' homes to be destroyed and them taken for who knows what sort of examination, that alone outweighed her own desires.

"I promise Naegi-kun, I will not tell a soul about Gizmo." Sayaka declared, the boy looked at her and saw in her eyes that she was telling the truth. With a smile Makoto then told her he trusted her words which made Sayaka beam with happiness.

After their conversation Makoto went back to the main campus to buy something to drink for him and Sayaka, when he returned he was met by a peacefully sleeping Sayaka and Gizmo. Sitting across the two Makoto placed one of the drinks down and took a sip out off his while he stared at the two with a soft smile.

"It seems like things are about to get interesting around here."

* * *

_**Hope you guys enjoyed the read, its a**__** casual story that I wanted to publish, unlike the Fairy Tail fanfic this one doesn't have a proper schedule on when its published, its not top priority but it is something I wanted to work on. **_

_**As usual though opinions, criticisms and questions are very welcome! So don't be shy to put something on.**_

_**No long AN for this one so I will see you all next time.**_


	2. Case 2 - Midnight Cryptid

A week has passed after the meeting, and ever since then the blue haired idol has regularly visited Makoto and Gizmo. Throughout the week Sayaka would ask Makoto questions about cryptids, which he would answer in great detail. She would always be impressed by the boy's knowledge, but she never knew where that knowledge came from, the idol has asked her classmate a couple of times but he would always dismiss them, and no matter how much she pressed Sayaka could never get an answer from him. She made many attempts to trick him into telling her, though those attempts were futile, since the luckster easily caught on to her schemes and called her out on them.

Sayaka would admit that she was good at guessing things, she even called herself an esper, even though in reality her intuition was just really good. However Makoto was someone who she couldn't figure out, not just his secrets but also his character, in school everyone knew him as the most open boy, he was literally unable to lie or keep a secret, yet when he was no longer in school, he was closed off, like a safe with a million locks.

It was finally the weekend and Sayaka along with her friends from school:

The Ultimate Swimmer, Aoi Asahina, a merry tanned girl who enjoyed eating donuts just as much as she enjoyed a pool. She is often seen as an airhead, but her big heart often makes up for it since she is more than happy to make new friends wherever she goes.

The other was someone older than them, hailing from her home country of Novoselic was the Ultimate Princess, Sonia Nevermind. Sonia was royalty and it showed in her mannerisms, she was: polite, kind and formal in every way.

They were an odd mixture of friends but they all worked well with each other. Sayaka would always bring them to the best places to hang out, while Asahina knew many good eateries around the city. Sonia, on the other hand, was there for the ride and experience, being a foreigner her main desire was to experience as much of Japan as possible, even going as far as learning slang; though her understanding of it was very poor and she used it in wrong ways, however she and Sayaka shared interests in the occult with the two often talking about witches, curses and ceremonies to summon a being of another world.

* * *

After spending a long day of relaxing in the city of Towa, the girls were going to return to the dorms, as they were told to stay in the school dorms for the entire year and only leave for holidays such as: Christmas and Summer vacation, though they were allowed to request a leave so long as they had a reason for the leave.

On the way back they noticed something on the road they were walking on, from afar they could recognise that it was the corpse of a dog. Running closer to it, they were horrified when they saw that the dog was not just dead, it was mutilated.

It was lying on its own puddle of blood which was now dried up, the dog's head and neck were missing, while its torso was torn with its intestines poured out.

The girls were disgusted by the sight, Sonia and Sayaka merely stared at it with horrified expressions while Asahina was gagging at the gruesome sight, the girls decided to call the police to report it since they had no idea who to call. Sayaka took a quick snapshot of the corpse, since she had the feeling that it was not human that did the horrible deed. When the police arrived they told the girls to return home but to also be careful since apparently there have been a string of murders happening in their neighbourhood, granted it was only happening to animals.

On the way home, everyone was now on guard, Sayaka sent a quick text to Makoto about the corpse, telling him it could have been a cryptid that did it. Makoto sent her a reply asking her how she was so sure, her answer? Intuition, it was all intuition, she had no proper evidence, even so she had a feeling that it was a being that was not human or domestic animals.

"What could have done that to a poor dog?" Hina suddenly asked.

"I haven't the slightest clue, but if they do find the fiend that has committed such an act, I hope that they will be executed." Sonia said with a huff.

"Does animals warrant a capital punishment though?" Sayaka inquired, joining the conversation.

"I don't know, but it should for that person since they are so evil!" Hina fumed, puffs of steam escaping her head while she also puffed her cheeks and crossed her arms.

Sayaka and the girls finally returned to Hope's Peak where they were greeted by Makoto, who was waiting for Sayaka. At the moment of seeing the luckster Asahina became flustered, her cheeks becoming dusted with red. It was no secret that the swimmer had a crush on the boy, she liked his kind nature and he would always listen to her talk even when he couldn't say anything back; furthermore he would never complain about it, rather he just enjoyed listening to her stories about things that goes on in her life. Other things he has done was that he would never refuse to help her with her swimming and her studies, often helping her with notes that she may have missed. People knew this was just the luckster being kind but to Asahina it was sweet and this is what led to her feelings for him to bloom.

It was a shame the boy she liked didn't see the blatant show of affection the girl had for him.

"Hey everyone." Makoto greeted with a wave.

"Naegi-kun how do you do?" Sonia asked with a smile.

"I'm doing fine Sonia-senpai. How are you Asahina-san?" turning to the girl, Makoto noticed that she was fidgeting a lot but didn't know why, so he merely looked at her with a curious look.

"I'm doing fine Naegi-kun." the swimmer answered in a whisper.

"What was that I couldn't hear you." Makoto said as he got closer to the swimmer in an attempt to hear her better.

However since Makoto was now so close to her, it sent Asahina into overdrive as her blush deepened, she couldn't take it anymore, so she bolted into the school grounds and straight in the direction of the dorms all while holding her burning cheeks.

"Oh my, well I should go after her. Will you be joining me Maizono-san?" the princess asked turning to her friend.

"I'll catch up, I have something I need to discuss with Naegi-kun here." Sayaka answered.

"Very well, I hope you two will have good time smashing." Sonia said with a bright smile before lightly jogging to the girl's dorm. However what the princess had not realised was that what she had said left the two younger students frozen in shock.

"Does she mean a smashing good time?" Makoto asked glancing over to Sayaka.

"Yes, she mixed them up." the idol clarified which caused Makoto to sigh.

"Isn't that a European phrase? How did she get it wrong?"

"Well she was sheltered."

"Right, well why don't we head to the old building. Let's discuss what you found."

* * *

When the two arrived at the old building Makoto showed her the photo again and confirmed that it was indeed a cryptid that committed the act on the dog. He explained that the dog's neck was torn right off from its head, pointing at the tears that were on the neck. Sayaka asked him what cryptid could have done this but Makoto was unsure himself, telling the girl that there were many cryptids that could pull off the feat of mangling a dog.

"If I were to guess, it has to be something that can hide within the human populous."

"And what's that?"

"Well, a type of shapeshifter would be the most logical guess."

"How are we suppose to find one of those?"

Makoto went into a thinking pose before remembering he has heard about the string of murders in the news, he specifically remembered that people were talking about how they heard dogs howling around midnight before it went all quiet.

Glancing over to Sayaka, the luckster saw that the girl was also brainstorming for leads, but rather than tell her about the information he had cobbled up, Makoto instead told her that they should leave the investigating to the police, which shocked Sayaka who thought that they could have helped the cops with capturing the rabid cryptid.

"The police isn't gonna listen to a couple of teenagers talking about fantasy beings." said the luckster, but Sayaka was not gonna give up.

"Well let's do it ourselves!" the idol proposed but was quickly shut down by the boy.

"No."

"Come on!"

"No, its too dangerous."

"So are we just gonna let whatever this creature is go on a rampage?"

"Yes, what can we do? We're not strong enough to hunt down a cryptid, if anything this cryptid would just see us as another snack to feed on."

Sayaka hated that the luckster was right, but she couldn't find it in her to just let the creature wander around, what if becomes even more hostile and starts to attack people instead? She would hate herself for not being able to do anything despite knowing that she could have done something.

"Ok fine, let's leave it to the cops." Sayaka said frustrated before she went up to the door and left the room, slamming the door slightly behind her.

Gizmo who had been silent and listening then whimpered at Makoto since he didn't like seeing Sayaka mad, Makoto slightly feeling guilty merely petted Gizmo in silence.

* * *

Midnight came, dark clouds covered the sky which dimmed the shine of the moon. Within the suburban streets a large creature dragged its feet along, a dog then barked at the creature gaining its attention. Turning its body the creature revealed its glowing blood red eyes. With one swift movement from the creature the dog no longer had its head, blood spilled onto the floor the dog's headless body fell to the side, its blood creating a pool around it while the creature continued to walk away from the corpse.

Meanwhile, over at Hope's Peak's girl's dormitory, Sayaka, despite telling Naegi that they should leave it to the cops still decided to do something about the cryptid. So when midnight arrived, she got dressed into a dark blue hoodie and jeans, grabbed a small backpack filling it with things such as a: flashlight, disposable camera (from who knows where) and finally a bottle of water which she bought during lunch but kept. She then slowly opened her door and crept to the ground floor so that she wouldn't have to endure a massive drop before leaving through a nearby window.

Now that she was out of the dorms her next task was escaping the actual school, the front gate was out of the picture since it was locked. Sayaka then scoured the school grounds for any exits but no luck, the place was tight as a prison. After what seemed to be forever searching for an exit, luck seemed to have shined down on her when she saw that at the back of the school, part of the metal fence was broken. Taking the opportunity Sayaka squeezed through the fence and sneakily made her way down the lit streets.

It was nerve racking enough to be out so late, but it was even more nerve racking for the idol since she was looking for a cryptid. Using her flashlight Sayaka peered at the alleys she could find and used it to maneuver through darker areas of the suburbs. Time continued to pass and the blue haired girl could not find her cryptid; tired from her search, Sayaka made her way to the park where she spent some time sitting on a bench and drinking her water.

"Maybe I should just head back." the idol thought seeing as her search did not produce results.

Before she could move however, the sound of rustling leaves snapped her out of her thoughts. She then turned her head towards some nearby bushes, along with using her flashlight, Sayaka slowly approached the bushes which were shaking vigorously. Small beads of sweat dribbled down her cheeks as her heartbeat began to increase, her lips quivered and body shook with every step. Suddenly a shadow leaped from the bush which made Sayaka's heart nearly jump out of her chest from shock, the idol was about to scream but something quickly covered her mouth preventing her from shouting in the middle of the night.

"Don't scream its me." a voice said in the dark, flashing her light in front of her Sayaka was shocked to see that the person who was holding her mouth, was none other than Makoto!

"You're not gonna scream?" the luckster asked and the idol nodded in response.

"You promise?" again, another nod came from the idol.

Sighing Makoto uncovered her mouth and walked a couple of steps back, in order to let the girl process what just happened to her as well as let her calm down.

"What are you doing here?" the idol asked surprised.

"I should be asking the same thing."

"I'm looking for the cryptid."

"Even after I told you to leave it to the cops?"

"I just can't leave a cryptid out there when its causing chaos."

"I told you there's nothing we can do."

"You say that, but you're out here as well. I'm guessing for the exact same reason as me."

There was a silence that befell the two, a smug smile then formed on Sayaka's lips as she leaned closer to the boy who was trying not to look at her at all costs. When Makoto did glance back, he saw a wide grin on Sayaka's face, this annoyed Makoto who then ignored the idol and stomped his way out of the park, but not before asking the girl if she were coming or not. Without verbally answering him, Sayaka continued to smile at the boy before jogging over to his side and the two ventured out into the night to search for the cryptid.

Not long after the two left the park, they noticed the corpse of the dog that was killed not too long ago, when she saw the corpse Sayaka began to gag at the sight of the fresh body; meanwhile Makoto crouched next to the dog to examine it further.

"Its the same as with the other one." Makoto scooted closer to see the wound closer but he was quickly stopped by Sayaka who lightly pulled him back.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking at the wound."

"But do you need to get that close to it?"

"I guess not?"

Makoto continued to examine the dead body, in a reasonable distance, and found nothing: the wound was similar, the way it was beheaded was similar; there was not enough information in the corpses alone to identify what cryptid it was. However, luck seemed to be on his side that night because shortly after they heard a loud howl in the night.

"Was that a wolf?" Sayaka asked looking out into the distance.

Makoto stood up slightly worried, "It couldn't be, there are no wolves in Towa. Unless there's a zoo nearby." he answered jokingly despite his worry.

Despite the disturbance they felt the two continued their search. Eventually, it led them to a street that both of them were unfamiliar with. On that street they were mesmerised by a mansion that took up most of the street, the house itself was further back since there was a driveway that led to the house from the gate where the two Ultimates stood on the other side gawking.

"Woah, I didn't know there were super rich people in this area?" Sayaka whispered whilst staring at the house.

"Even though we go to school with rich people?" Makoto fired back.

Makoto then glanced over his shoulder briefly before she returned his attention to the house, but he then did a double take, shooting his head back to his side. In the distance he saw it, the towering figure of the cryptid in all its glory thanks to the moon shining on it.

Its large fur covered body, the sharp claws and fangs, as well as the drool that was dripping from the corners of its slightly open mouth, and the blood red eyes that glowed like gems which showed its desire to kill and eat. The cryptid then let out a howl before it stared back at the two teens.

Makoto then began to shake Sayaka to gain her attention, which he did because when she turned her head to talk to him, she too saw the cryptid from afar and also like him, she was frozen in place.

"What do we do?" Sayaka asked in a whisper not taking her eyes off.

"Well, there's only one thing to do… run!" Makoto said before grabbing Sayaka's wrist and pulling her away from the house and the cryptid. In response to them running the cryptid then went on all fours before chasing after them growling.

"Is that a werewolf?!"

"Yes."

"They exists?!"

"Of course they exists, Gizmo does."

"They're not the same!"

"Don't you like these sort of things? Why are complaining?!"

"I'm not, its just surprising."

"Well, surprise."

Makoto and Sayaka looked over their shoulders as they ran, behind them, the werewolf was snarling, its blood red eyes locked on them full of hunger.

Meandering through the dark streets, the two Ultimates attempted to shake off their pursuer by turning corners as often as possible, or hiding behind walls but they all failed since the cryptid could pick up their scent which led it to their location.

There was one moment that they did escape the beast and they were ready to take a breath of relief, but it was quickly prevented when Makoto saw that the werewolf had cut them off, so he had to quickly turn around and run back in order to stop them from becoming its next meal.

Running out of options, Makoto then looked around for small alley they squeeze into, he believed that with the werewolf's massive size he would not be able to fit into a small space between two buildings. When the luckster did find an alley he quickly told Sayaka to go in, however there was a small predicament, Sayaka had trouble fitting into the space due to her... chest.

"You've got to be kidding me, can't you get those to shrink?" Makoto asked in slight annoyance.

"Its not my fault my genetics gave me such volume!" the idol responded as she kept on pushing herself inwards.

Meanwhile the werewolf was now closing in on them and fast, Makoto was now sweating profusely in fear that he may become its food, but luckily for him Sayaka managed to wedge herself further and pull him in just in time before the werewolf's jaws snapped closed on the lucky student's arm. Once he was in, both Makoto and Sayaka breathed a sigh of relief but they were quickly interrupted by the werewolf which was growling at them while attempting to reach them through the crack but only its snout could fit, which didn't reach them.

Before the cryptid could do anything else Makoto told Sayaka to quickly move forward so that they can exit through the other side and run. Complying the idol did her best to scoot over to the exit despite the difficulty of her doing so; meanwhile Makoto who was following behind her heard a faint whistle causing him to turn back to the beast, where he saw it also had heard the whistle. When they finally got out the two wasted no time in running away, they looked back to see if the werewolf was following them but oddly enough it wasn't.

Making their way back to the park and hid behind a couple of trees out of breath. After assuring that they were safe the two then decided to head on home.

"A werewolf." Sayaka said giddy.

"Yeah." the luckster monotonously responded.

"An actual werewolf."

"Yes, that was a werewolf."

"And it nearly ate us alive."

"You seem happy about that."

"Well I don't appreciate it trying to eat us but being able to see a real werewolf. That's just awesome!"

"Awesome huh?"

When the two returned to Hope's Peak Sayaka noticed that the path Makoto was taking her to go back in was the same path she took in order to go out of the school. It then dawned on her that it must've been her classmate that made that hole when he was going out as well.

"How'd you make a hole here?" the idol asked.

"What this? I just borrowed some metal cutters from the school workshop." Makoto answered but Sayaka was sceptical that he borrowed the metal cutters.

Makoto then walked Sayaka near the dorm before they said their luckster then told the idol that they will meet at the fence tomorrow to continue their investigation. Sayaka was surprised to hear that Makoto was okay with continuing in looking into the werewolf despite him being adamant that leave it alone before. Makoto bashfully explained that he was not planning on leaving the werewolf alone, he just didn't want to bring Sayaka since he didn't know what the cryptid was and he didn't want to put her in danger, so he had to make sure she wouldn't go after it, though its obvious that didn't work.

"I know how much you love cryptids but I don't want to put you in danger, so I did what I did." Sayaka was touched by the boy's consideration that it made her lightly blush.

"That makes sense. I'm sorry I got mad at you even though you were just looking out for me." Makoto shook his head and told her it was fine since he understood where she was coming from.

The two then said their goodnights before Makoto left the girl to her own so that he could go to his own dorm and get some well deserved rest.

* * *

_**Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!**_

_**As usual feel free to put a criticism, review or comment don't be afraid.**_


	3. Case 3 - The Luckster's Greatest Fan

_**Random daily life chapter, this might happen from time to time just to work on pacing. Hope you all enjoy!**_

* * *

Classes had resumed, Sayaka could barely concentrate on anything, since her mind was mainly on the werewolf. Makoto on the other hand was not as distracted, he managed to easily concentrate in his classes without fail.

One such example was during home economics class; where they were told to pair up with somebody; since he was thought of as average, Makoto was always left with whoever had not been picked last. However, this time around one could spot Asahina wanting to invite her crush to pair up with her, unluckily for her a certain blue haired idol had beaten her to him.

"Naegi-kun why don't we pair up?" Sayaka asked out of the blue, shocking both Makoto and the entire class.

"What?" the luckster questioned. Sayaka didn't answer however, instead she just gave him a wide smile, while leaning closer to him. Makoto finally got the reason for her sudden interest in pairing up with him and agreed.

Asahina, watched the entire interaction with a gaping mouth; she couldn't believe what she was seeing. One of her friends, who knew that she had an interest towards the luckster, was taking him away from her! Frozen in place, Asahina turned to stone, before a breeze blew her away; which turned her into dust next.

At the same time, Makoto and Sayaka began to work on their task, yet Makoto had already prepared himself for questioning from the idol; and he wasn't wrong.

"How can you act so calm?" Sayaka whispered.

"You're just too excited about it." Makoto deadpanned.

"How can I not? We saw a werewolf. A werewolf Naegi-kun! Unless-"

"It wasn't a dream."

"So we did see one!"

Makoto then sighed, he turned to Sayaka saying: that although he is glad of her enthusiasm, she shouldn't act suspicious all of a sudden while they are in school. Naturally this confused the idol, she didn't think she was acting suspicious at all; well for Makoto she was. The luckster explained that her sudden interest in working with him definitely got heads turning their way, he even told her to look over her shoulder and see that some people's attention are still on them. Doing as she was ordered, Sayaka turned her head slightly to catch a glance of the class, and sure enough some (mainly guys and Asahina) were looking in their general direction, but she knew that were actually looking at her and Naegi.

Turning her head back, Sayaka now felt guilty that she had brought such attention to themselves, because if people were to eavesdrop on their conversation it would have led to the investigation of the werewolf to be compromised. Well, that or people might think that they are just really good fans of things that are in fantasy, the idol was hoping for the latter.

"Don't think too badly of what you did, since your concerns were more important." Makoto whispered catching the idol's attention.

"I just want you to be wary that in school we are of two different worlds. You are someone who belongs with everyone here, but I don't. After all I only got into this school out of luck, no skill or hard work... just luck."

Sayaka was saddened by what her classmate said, she wanted to say that he was wrong, but she couldn't; her words were stuck in her throat.

Lunch finally came and Makoto headed to the old school building as usual, Sayaka too wanted to go but from what happened during class, she decided not to chase after him as to not bring any more unwanted attention.

"Hey look that was the lucky bastard."

Maizono turned her head to look behind her and saw a couple of her classmates murmuring under their breath.

Within the group was: Leon Kuwata, the Ultimate Baseball player, Celstia Ludenberg, the Ultimate Gambler; both of which were in her class. The others that were there, were their seniors from the class above.

"Seriously, why does the school accept people with no talent? He's just a waste of space." Maizono's eyes widened when she heard the insult, she couldn't believe that a group of people didn't see Makoto as a talented person.

"Yeah, honestly how is luck even a talent? I understand about the lucky student from the upper year, but there's nothing special about this guy. He looks like he belongs in the Reverse Course."

"Even that place is too great for him. He shouldn't be anything Hope's Peak owns at all."

"He ain't gonna be anything in the future, he might just become a corporate slave."

They all began to snicker after they had thrown their slander, and Sayaka wanted to correct them for ever thinking about such a thing. But she knew she had to hold back or else people will get suspicious of them once more.

At the old principal's office, Makoto had a large map laid out on the coffee table, he was circling all the places where the werewolf had attacked in hopes that he could probably see some sort of clues that could lead him to the beast's origins. After he had circled all of the places where the werewolf had killed the local dogs, Makoto saw an obvious pattern: the werewolf would always hunt a whole street from its origin, after it has traveled the distance of one entire street it would then move clockwise and then repeat the process. But now it begged the question, where was its origins? Unsurprisingly the only place the werewolf could've originated from was the new giant house that Makoto and Sayaka saw during their late night expedition.

"_The possibility of the werewolf belonging to that place is high, considering its right at the center of its hunting grounds, but its best to still test it." _Makoto then gave a tired sigh, he leaned his back and stretched his arms.

"Guess I'm going shopping then."

* * *

Classes had ended and Makoto once again headed for the old building while Sayaka seemed to have returned to the dorms. Not long following his own arrival, Makoto heard the door slam open which made him quickly turn his head, what he then saw was a walking tower of books.

"Um little help?" Sayaka requested, leaning her head to the side.

When they had placed the books down on the coffee table, the luckster scanned through the titles and saw that they were books about werewolves. In his head Makoto couldn't help but feel slight pity at the fact that the idol thought of bringing, which he assumed was her own collection, of what was most likely false information.

"I don't know if they will actually help, but I brought them just in case there was something useful." Sayaka explained, but the luckster still thought it was highly unlikely, humans always treated cryptids as myths so each incarnation differs from the truth.

The boy really wanted to tell the idol that there was no way that they would find anything useful, however when he looked at the idol who was blushing and fidgeting from exposing her nerdiness; Makoto found himself wanting to help her rather than reject her.

Sitting on the couch, Makoto grabbed one of the books and began to skim through the pages. Seeing him sort through her books brought a light feeling to Sayaka's chest and a smile formed from her lips. By the time Makoto had finished scanning every book it was already dusk, it would've been longer if it weren't for the fact that they were all information books which meant he only needed to focus for a short amount of time before moving on.

"Well anything?"

"Hmm, most are pure fantasy, but there were a few that aligned with an actual werewolf."

"Really which ones?!"

Makoto handed her three books and then told her that, although the information in the books were correct, they were still full of holes, so in order for her to get the right knowledge she should only read about behaviour and its feeding habits, nothing more.

Once they have established the books Makoto informed Sayaka that they will not be looking for the werewolf on that night, of course Sayaka was disappointed but oddly enough she didn't retaliate and that was only because in her head she knew Makoto may not want to go out so late again or else they may get tired. However, what was actually going on inside the lucky student's head was not about them hunting the werewolf, nevertheless it was something that would ultimately help them in the future.

In order to give Maizono enough time to learn what she needed to, Makoto broke their meeting off early. This proved to sadden the idol a tiny bit, since she really didn't mind staying with her classmate as she read, but figured that he may have been cautious due to the attention she had garnered during classes.

When she had returned to her dorms, Sayaka didn't even wait until she reached her room to start on her reading. Crashing on the couch of the dorm's living room, the blue haired girl immediately opened one of the three books and began to sink into the information being presented to her. Bearing in mind of what the luckster told her to avoid, Sayaka managed to finish one book in the span of 20 mins before she needed to move on, the next book she picked up had similar content to the previous in that both books informed that: werewolves are not out of control beasts, always looking for something to kill, but rather that those who have no control must mean that they've only gained the ability to transform quite recently. Applying this reasoning to her current situation, Sayaka saw how this could be most likely true because if the time the werewolf's host first transformation happened was when the first animal kill happened, then it would be logical to conclude that this particular werewolf was quite new.

She continued to read and absorb the information, until the doors of the dorms opened and a chatty duo in the form of the Ultimate Swimmer and the muscular, gruff sounding Ultimate Fighter, entering the room and broke Sayaka's concentration. Once in the room the ever so bubbly Asahina then saw that Sayaka was also in the room, with a wide smile the swimmer then walked over to the idol and greeted her.

"Ah Maizono-san, what's up?"

"Just some light reading is all."

"Oh no did we interrupt you?"

"No its fine, I should probably take a break

"I'm sorry."

"No Asahina-san it's ok, really."

Their classmate, the Ultimate Fighter, Sakura Oogami then inserted herself into their conversation and informed her fellow student that they had spotted Makoto not too long ago leaving Hope's Peak.

"Naegi-kun really?"

"Yes, he looked to be in a hurry as well."

"Wonder where he could have gone?"

* * *

Walking into the busy city with a satchel hanging on his shoulder, Makoto made his way to the heart of Towa where many shining stands of different cultures mixed. Towa was known for their culturally diverse atmosphere, and it clearly showed when the sun had begun to set, around this time the nightly activities of this city increases immensely due to the picturesque scene that is painted on the city's center. With glowing golden lights from the stands, and the wonderful colours that is reflected by the many items and products provided by the many vendors. It was almost something out of a fairy tale city.

Unfortunately, Makoto's destination was not within that lively place, instead it was between the dark alleys of the city. What the luckster was looking for was a single metal door with a glowing sign that read 'CryptoStock'.

Entering the shop, Makoto was met with a view of dark room stuffed with many things that would make anyone's skin crawl: from skulls, to hanging moss and fungi, small jars all labelled with skulls; others were larger, clear jars filled with herbs and other assortments. At the back of the shop, was a single white light and a worn out counter, behind said counter came a tired hello from a woman with wavy pink hair, smoking a cigar.

"Hagakure-san, evening." the luckster greeted with a smile as he walked to the counter.

"How many times have I told you? You're my regular here, use my first name. Plus it may get you confused with my son."

"Ok then, Hiroko-san." inside Makoto's head, he didn't really understand how he would get her confused with his classmate when he's not even there, but humouring her won't hurt anyone.

"Good, now what can I do for you?"

"I'm gonna be needing some senbon."

"Hmm? What for?"

"A little hunting expedition."

Not prying anymore from the young man, Hiroko pointed at a shelf and instructed to look on the top shelf. With a thankful nod, Makoto then did as he was told and went over to the shelf; as it was too high for Makoto, he had to feel around before his hand grasped what he was looking for all bundled up in a bandage.

"How's my son by the way?"

"Still gullible and airheaded as usual."

"Has he gotten into trouble?"

"Best for you not to know that."

Makoto picked up a couple more things around the shop, before he walked up to the counter and placed some cash down before he said his goodbyes and returned to Hope's Peak to prepare for the next investigation.

When the next morning rolled about Makoto woke up earlier than usual and quickly went to the old building carrying an old briefcase, inside the case was what could only be described as a modern witch's kit: assortments of herbs and spices, embalming tools, a bunsen burner and finally a bunch of scrolls tied up with different coloured strings. With the proper protection on, Makoto then set his little lab up before he took the ingredients he had bought the day prior and began to brew something.

Skipping happily to the old building, Sayaka wore a big smile on her face as a sign of how proud she was of herself for managing to read through all three books that Makoto had recommended her, as well as memorise the correct information that would surely help them in their investigation.

Slamming the door open, the idol greeted the luckster with excitement but when she saw the state of their meeting place, she instantly began to fangirl at the sight of what in her mind was a warlock's den.

"Kyaa~ wh-wh-what is all this?!"

"Oh morning."

"Naegi-kun! Are you making potions by any chance?!"

"Uhh, kind of."

With stars in her eyes, Sayaka eyed the many spices and bottles laid out on the table, the scrolls that were opened showing how to make what she assumed to be potions.

Sighing, Makoto then told Sayaka she was free to watch just not touch anything, since he could not predict what the side effects of some of the chemicals would have on her if it was spilt on her person. Acknowledging this warning, Sayaka sat on the couch and rested her chin on her palms as she eagerly watched the luckster brew.

When she had calmed down from her elation, the idol began to wonder just how much her classmate knew about the cryptid world. He was not only knowledgeable about cryptid beings, but also practices that would normally be for the occult. She came to the room proud that she had learnt something, but quickly realised just how much she still didn't know and that thought made her feel small in comparison to Makoto.

"_Is this how you feel?" _she pondered in pain, "_Watching everyone move in strides while you take tiny steps, must truly be torture isn't it Naegi-kun? Its so unfair, you've been put in this school as the Ultimate Lucky student, but everyone treats it as a joke, yet here you are with your true talent but can't show it off without a grave consequence."_

"What a joke." Sayaka unconsciously said, which was heard by Makoto.

"What was that?"

Realising that she had thought out loud, Sayaka panicked and began to sputter whilst attempting to hide her thoughts. Unluckily for her, she couldn't dismiss it well enough, so her companion easily deduced that something was indeed off about her. Without the need for any further interrogation, Sayaka cracked and decided to just be open with Makoto, telling him what she wondered about.

"Its just unfair how you're treated like a joke, even though you're actually really talented and smart Naegi-kun."

"I personally don't think its unfair at all."

"Huh?! What do you mean? People laugh at you behind your back! They talk about how you won't be anything in the future, all because they only judge by your luck." at that point Sayaka began to tear up, she choked on her words and hiccuped as she kept pushing herself to inform Makoto of what their classmates had been saying about him. Every word that came out of her mouth, was nothing but insults, no one had respect for Makoto Naegi, not as a fellow student nor as a person.

"I'd be lying if I said I never knew, because I do know Maizono-san." the luckster confessed, which came as a surprise to the idol, it even stopped her tears momentarily.

"But I can't blame them, like I said yesterday; unlike you all my acceptance here is not through hard work, but is the result of the hands of fate being in my favour. Nothing about my existence here is because I had trained to become something, I'm only here because of a lottery." Makoto sat across from Sayaka his head downcast and his eyes fixated on the floor.

"Even if all of you laugh and insult me, I won't fight and I won't tell you all that you're wrong. I don't think I belong here either, honestly I would've turned down the offer to study here, but I couldn't and I don't know why. I would leave as well, though using the reason that 'I don't think I belong here' will work, so here I am, waiting for the year to end so that I don't have to come back."

Listening to him was painful for Sayaka, she always saw the boy as a happy and bright person, to see him so shattered and filled with guilt made her heart sink. She wanted to comfort him, tell him that he was wrong, but no words would dare escape her lips. Consequently, this led to her not saying any more and just leaving the room with tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

* * *

With nowhere else to go, Sayaka made her way to her classroom and waited there for class to start by trying to distract herself with a book.

"Yo Maizono-san!" looking up from her book, the blue haired idol saw the face of the Ultimate Baseball player, Leon Kuwata.

"Kuwata-kun, what can I do for you?" Maizono asked, though she really didn't need to ask, since there was only one thing Leon would ask for.

"So uh, did you talk to anyone in your studio about signing me up?" she knew it, if there was anything she couldn't stand, it was Leon Kuwata's request to be signed to Sayaka's studio so that he could apparently start his career as a musician.

Sayaka would be more than happy to help her fellow classmate, but what put her off helping him at all was the reason behind his request. She remembered it quite vividly the first time they exchanged words about being in the music industry and when Leon revealed his reason for wanting to become a musician; it was all for a woman he met in a hair salon.

This immediately shut Sayaka off from engaging the baseball any further about music; sure he was determined, even going as far as changing his looks for it, but the reason for his interest in music wasn't due to love for it; for Leon it was just a means to an end. It was difficult for Sayaka to accept that as she enjoys being an idol because she loves to perform and sing, not just because she has fame.

However there was another reason why the idol wouldn't entertain her classmate's dream.

"Oh yeah Maizono-san, wanna pull a prank on someone?"

"Huh?"

"I got this pack of thumbtacks, I was gonna put them in Naegi's desk." the baseball star whispered with a grin.

"Wouldn't that hurt him?"

"Who cares? Not like anyone cares for that loser." Sayaka felt a vein pop from the corner of her head when those words left the boy's mouth.

Soon, Celestia Ludenberg also joined in voicing her discontent for him and started to bad mouth him along with Leon.

Sayaka sat there, becoming more and more mad listening to the two scum ramble about her friend, she gritted her teeth and held herself back for the sake of not bringing attention; the idol needed to stay calm, though that was getting difficult as she continued to listen.

"I wonder how he can live his life being a loser? He really should just go back to the dumps where he belongs."

That did it, slamming her hands on her desk Sayaka's anger has skyrocketed. Everyone who was in the class all snapped their heads towards the idol who was seething.

"Shut up, both of you." she mumbled, prompting Leon to request to repeat what she had just said.

"I said, shut up the both of you!" Sayaka bellowed, her eyes full of rage.

"You both don't know a thing about Naegi-kun, so how can you judge him just based on his talent?! If anything, you're worse Kuwata-kun!" the idol then pointed at the boy with an accusatory finger.

"You take your talent for granted. You would throw it away just for a quick fling with a girl you randomly met a hairdressers!" everyone then turned to Leon who began to sweat profusely from being exposed.

"How is Naegi any different? He got here through luck! He did no work!"

"That's right, he got here through luck and because of that Naegi-kun believes that he shouldn't be here at all. So none of you should have to worry about putting him down, Naegi-kun already doesn't believe in himself. Also you won't have to concern yourselves with the teachers kicking him out since he said once his first year is finished; he will leave and never come back. Lucky for all of you isn't it?"

Many in the class had their eyes wide open when they heard what Sayaka said, even the idol herself was surprised about how much she told them. Makoto warned her that if she shouldn't bring too much attention to them and she just brought about a tsunami of attention to her and Makoto.

"Um, I don't think Naegi-kun is talentless at all." a new voice chimed in which caught everyone's attention.

Turning their heads, everyone's eyes landed on a red haired girl sitting near the windows of the classroom. Her expression full of shyness, as she fidgeted in place; beads of sweat shooting out of her head as if she was in an anime.

"What was that Otonashi-san?" Sayaka asked, unsure if what she heard before was correct.

"I sit next to Naegi-kun in every class. Sometimes when I look around and I see him work, I notice that he actually doesn't put a lot of effort into answering certain questions, like he immediately knew the answer to them."

Leon protested that there was no way that Makoto was smart since he was always average in the class in terms of everything. However, Otonashi argued that she often saw Makoto get an answer right then deliberately change it to a wrong answer; while in classes that were more practical, he would also hold back through sabotage, an example would be when they were doing cricket in their sports class and he slowed his arm down just when he was about to throw the ball.

The students couldn't believe what they were hearing, the lucky student who they looked down upon actually had a little more talent than what they had believed. Though, Sayaka knew he was capable of so much more than what Otonashi told them.

Not before long others added their own compliments about Naegi and how even when he wasn't as talented as them, he had many other traits that made him a wonderful person.

"_One day Naegi-kun I'll show the whole world just what you're capable of. I swear to that!" _the idol proudly thought as she smiled at the scene of her classmates complimenting Naegi to no end.

On that day, in that classroom, Sayaka Maizono had established herself as Makoto Naegi's greatest fan.

* * *

_**Quick note from me: **_

_**If you follow my other story Fallen Dragonslayer then you would know that I went on hiatus for it, if you are a guest and wish to know when it will return or what other projects I am working or will be working on then please go to my profile I will be showing what stories are either in progress, stories that are on hold and finally any future stories that I have planned, or would like to do.**_

_**Stories that will have an asterisk on them (*) are stories which I would like to do but not have planned for yet.**_

_**Thank you for reading this note and I will see you all next time.**_

_**Criticisms, reviews, questions (which will be answered in the next chapter) and any other types of comments are all very welcome. So don't be shy!**_


	4. Case 4 - Origins of the beast

Makoto entered his classroom and noticed that everyone had their eyes glued on him, most had a curious look, the only exception was Leon who had some animosity hidden behind his gaze.

Sitting on his chair with a bead of sweat dripping down, Makoto began to unpack his bags and place them inside his desk.

"_What's with everyone? Is there something in my face?"_

As the day went on, everyone's attention was on the luckster who did his best to concentrate on the actual class as opposed to his fellow Ultimates. This uncomfortable atmosphere carried on until lunch, when Makoto was suddenly greeted by the idol out in the open.

Suspicious of everyone himself, the luckster dragged the idol away from the crowd. Once they were hidden from their classmates, Makoto commenced his interrogation.

"Ok what did you do?" Makoto asked with narrow, analysing eyes.

"Huh? Whatever do you mean?" Sayaka answered her eyes darting out of the way.

"Why's everyone suddenly looking at me like I was a new species."

"Maybe they just suddenly realised how talented you really are."

Makoto could easily see through the lies that the idol were saying, yet he decided not to call her out on it. He may have not wanted the attention, but the silver lining was that they can continue their meetings without the need for secrecy.

"Well at least we can have our meetings without the fear of being caught." the luckster positively stated.

With the relief of her friend not infuriated with her, Sayaka could only respond with a glowing smile and rapid nods.

The two ultimates then made their way to the old school building where Makoto began to brief Sayaka on their plans for that night. He showed her the map he had marked and explained the habit of the werewolf to hunt street per street, and how tonight may have been their final night to grab the werewolf. However the idol noticed that only one section of the street have not been circled and questioned the timing of their investigation with the timing of the werewolf's nightly hunts.

"Wait if this is the last place the werewolf hasn't gone through, then wouldn't that mean that we've missed our chance last night?"

Makoto agreed with her, but assured her that it didn't feed the night that they had missed since he had also gone and checked the dates of each kill; according to the news there was at least a one day gap between each kill, so it was lucky that Makoto and Sayaka had missed a day in which the werewolf decided not to feed.

"We'll meet up here tonight, make sure to bring everything you need. Wouldn't want you getting eaten alive." the luckster jested, making the idol pout.

"I'll be just fine." Sayaka responded with arms folded and turning her head away to express her annoyance.

But she then glanced over at Makoto who just wore a quivering smile, he then broke out laughing which also resulted in Sayaka laughing with him.

* * *

It was no easy task moving down the dark streets in search of a cryptid beast, not only were they alone but judging from the last encounter they had, Makoto and Sayaka made sure that they were quite alert as they meandered through the minimally lit roads. Every little crevice, each alley and rooftop the two searched. Whether it was out of pure excitement or being vigilant, who knows, all the two knew was that they had to find the werewolf and they weren't going to go home until they did.

They've been out for at least an hour and even when they had reached the final area of where Makoto deduced the werewolf would be, there was no sign of it.

"Maybe we were wrong and it had already cleared this place out." Sayaka whispered, somewhat upset.

"No, it hasn't been here yet. I checked the news, there was no mention of any new kills." Makoto continued to move slightly further but quickly stopped when his flashlight revealed something in the dark.

Meanwhile Sayaka was still searching so she hadn't paid attention to the fact that her partner had spotted something, "Hmm, maybe there no pets here." when she heard no response she called out Makoto's name, again no response.

Finally turning around she noticed that Makoto was now slightly further away, when she had gotten closer to him she noticed his attention was fixated on what was in front of him. She looked past him and her eyes widened when she saw the corpse of a large dog laid out on the ground with its head missing.

"What was that about this place being cleared out?"

Makoto walked up to the corpse and much like their previous investigation, got a little too close to the dead body and this prompted Sayaka to pull him back once again to berate him.

"Its fresh all right."

"I've been meaning to ask… how in the world can you tell if a dead body is fresh or not?"

"If there's blood and it hasn't dried out its mostly likely quite fresh. Though I am only guessing, I'm no detective or doctor so my guess could really just be as good as yours."

Their conversation was however cut short when they heard the sound of growling in the air, immediately swiping their flashlights, the two began to search for the source of the growl. It was only when Sayaka turned her head to one of the roofs that she found the source of the menacing noise.

"Naegi-kun, I found it." she voiced not daring to tear her eyes away.

Makoto then pointed his own flashlight at the roof the idol was staring at and he saw the red eyes of the cryptid staring back at him, full of hunger.

"Oh so that's where it was." the luckster joked. He then walked in front of Sayaka and began to wave at the werewolf, "Hello mister werewolf! We've met the other day, you know we were those two you went chasing around. Mind coming down and having a nice chat with us."

The idol looked at her classmate as if he was crazy, she then pulled him back and questioned his antics, to which his response was left much to be desired, "I need to check if this one has their human consciousness intact or if they really are a raging beast."

What made the exchange that much more unreal was the fact that the luckster told her that with a calm face; grabbing the boy's collar, Sayaka began to shake him furiously, questioning whether he was out of his mind. But once again their conversation had to be cut short when the werewolf jumped from the roof and landed in front of them, saliva dripping from the corners of its snout.

"So you willing to talk?" the werewolf then let out a deep roar which was the two ultimates took as a sign that the werewolf was all wolf.

"Guess that's a no." grabbing the idol's hand the luckster booked it away from the werewolf. Makoto then looked back and saw that the beast was following them as well, upon learning this a small smile appeared on the luckster's face.

He continued to run along the dark streets, making sure that their pursuer is still on their tail. Only when he had reached the park that Makoto stopped running and placed his idol companion behind him while he faced the hungry beast. Of course wondering as to why he did this, Sayaka questioned Makoto's intentions whilst terrified, but no response came from him. She noticed that he wasn't panicking though and for her this indicated he had something planned, Sayaka swallowed the lump on her throat and decided to just place her trust on Makoto.

When the beast finally caught up to them, it spared no time charging at them on all fours growling all the while. As it got closer and closer, Sayaka closed her eyes in fear; the luckster on the other hand, smirked and whispered the word 'bullseye' and out of his sleeve were three senbons. Then, when the werewolf went on his hind legs to pounce, Makoto in one quick movement sent the senbons flying towards the werewolf, covering the senbons was a thin layer of the potion he had made from before; the three needles sunk themselves into the cryptid's skin, and not before long the werewolf stopped its pounce before suddenly collapsing in front of the two Ultimates.

Sighing in relief Makoto walked up to the werewolf and looked at it closely, when the luckster saw that the cryptid had its eyes closed a small smile appeared on his face.

"We're good, its asleep." he said turning to the idol, who still looked unsure.

"You sure?"

"Mhm."

Relaxing herself, Sayaka fell to the ground since her legs gave out from fear, she let out an audible sigh and stared at the fallen werewolf. She couldn't believe it, in front of her was a genuine werewolf. Sure she saw it last time as well, but since she was too busy running away she couldn't appreciate the fact that she had come into contact with a werewolf! Without even realising it, the idol ended up with a goofy smile with drool overflowing out of her mouth; Makoto watched as the blue haired girl giggled to herself maniacally as she stared at the werewolf like it was her new test subject or even her dinner.

"_Now then, just have to wait." _the luckster thought as he stared at the entrance of the park.

* * *

The two ultimates continued to watch over the werewolf despite them becoming more and more tired as the night went on. When Sayaka asked Makoto why they were still out, Makoto vaguely answered her, stating that they had to make sure the werewolf was to get home safely.

When the luckster heard a high pitched whistle, similar to the one he heard before, "Looks like they're here."

"Huh?"

"Damian!"

Looking at the entrance of the park, Makoto and Sayaka found themselves in front of a girl wearing a red hoodie and black plants, she was breathing heavily indicating she just finished running; on her hand was a whistle, a dog whistle to be exact.

"Who's she?"

"Little red riding hood."

Makoto walked to the girl but noticed that she was shaking in fear, in order to calm her down the luckster stopped a few feet from her and explained to her the situation. His honesty seemed suspicious to the girl, so to further prove that he was not going to hurt her, he took a pouch of senbons as well as two small holders from his sleeves and placed each one on the floor, he then raised his hands slowly above his head.

"That's everything I have that I can use as a weapon." he told the girl who began to relax.

"Is that someone you know?" he asked pointing at the werewolf with his head, the girl just nodded in response.

"Don't worry he's asleep." the girl anxiously looked at the sleeping werewolf before returning her gaze at Makoto.

"That's my younger brother, Damian." the luckster's eyes widened, a small bead of sweat then slipped down his cheek.

"Are you a werewolf as well then?" Elli shook her head which surprised Makoto, though at the back of his head he still kept the possibility that she may have been lying to him.

Makoto advised that they try and get the werewolf back to his home since he will be waking up soon and if they don't bring him somewhere safe, he may run wild and start killing anything in its sight. Agreeing with him, Elli snatched a phone from her pocket and called someone, after her call she told Makoto that they should go home since she will take care of her brother. However Makoto wanted to know more about the cryptid, so he asked if they could meet up again, the luckster also added that if they desired he can help them solve this rampaging problem they have. Hesitantly Elli agreed and the two exchanged contacts as well as addresses, they then agreed to meet in Elli's home to further discuss the situation.

"I'm Makoto Naegi by the way."

"Elli Silvers." the two then exchanged a handshake before they walked over to the werewolf and Sayaka.

Makoto told his classmate that they can go home, at first the idol was unsure about leaving an unarmed person with a werewolf but Makoto said that its no longer their business therefore they should return home, not to mention that it was still a weekday and they needed the rest for classes.

Finally accepting her defeat the idol and luckster left Elli with her brother. On the way home Makoto discussed with Sayaka about Elli and the werewolf, her initial reaction was the same as her companion's, she too thought that Elli must have been a werewolf but Makoto told her what Elli indicated to him, that she wasn't a werewolf like her brother.

* * *

Classes felt like forever for the two, both Makoto and Sayaka wanted to get out as soon as possible so that they could go to Elli and learn more about her brother Damian; for Sayaka it was in a more broader sense while Makoto's was much more specific.

"How can someone be a sister of a werewolf and not be a werewolf?! Well I suppose she could be adopted." Sayaka pondered.

It was now lunch and the two students of class 78 had made their way to the old school building, where Sayaka went on a crazed deduction spree, trying to find out how in the world a girl can be related to a werewolf without sharing the same genes as the beast.

"No maybe, her parent and the werewolf's parent remarried to each other. Or is it one of those childhood friend situations where they think they are siblings!" Makoto watched as his companion paced around the room, flailing her arms about as the cogs of her mind went into overdrive.

"As much as all of those theories may be plausible, let's not tire ourselves trying to think of ideas. Let's just wait until we have to go to their house, I'm sure that they will have some answers."

Although she wasn't too happy about the idea of having to wait, the idol knew that she had no choice but to wait anyways since they were still in school. So one could easily imagine how elated the girl was when their final class ended, packing her stuff then zooming out of the room like a firework. Makoto could only shake his head before he too went out of the classroom and headed for the dorms.

Once Makoto had finished grabbing all he needed for his rendezvous with Elli he promptly made his way to the old school building where the idol was waiting with a huge grin.

"Did you seriously head straight here?" Makoto questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"What? Of course not." an obvious fib, if she was pinocchio her nose would have extended all the way to the luckster.

The two then made their way out of the school, not the hidden one but the main one since it was still the afternoon so they were still allowed to go out. However before they could get a step out of the premises the two students heard the idol's name being called out. Turning around the two were met by a small group of students from their class, of course meeting in that situation was terrifying for the two, why? Well, the sight of a boy and a girl leaving together when the two were never known to be close before was certainly going to raise some suspicion.

So it shouldn't come as a surprise that the two ended up getting interrogated by their fellow classmates.

"Hey where are you two going?"

"Wanna come with us to the city?"

"Wait are you two on a date?"

"No way! Really?"

One would think an idol who has been on interview panels would know how to handle the situation… though apparently not since the bombardment of questions led to Sayaka having to grab her male companion's wrist and blitz out of the school and down the road, leaving a trail of dust behind while apologizing to her classmates at the same time.

When they were finally a good distance away, Sayaka had lost her breath and was now on her knees breathing rapidly and unevenly; Makoto watched in silence, listening to the ever so gentle voiced idol suddenly turn into a rough voiced old man just from a mere sprint, least to say it was enlightening to an extent.

Confirming that they had escaped their fellow ultimates, Makoto offered a hand which Sayaka gladly took before they made their way to their destination. Sayaka asked where they were going, revealing that their destination was Elli's home Makoto then gave her a glimpse of his phone which had Elli's address displayed on it. Using his knowledge of the area Makoto looked around the collection of houses until he found themselves in a familiar area, it didn't even take long before Makoto just assumed that the house they were visiting they had already visited before... and boy were they correct.

Pressing the doorbell, the two teens waited for a couple seconds then a small buzz noise came from the doorbell before an intercom activated.

"Yes?" a voice of an old man asked.

"Um we're here to see Ms. Elli Silvers. Its Makoto Naegi and his friend Sayaka Maizono." the luckster replied leaning close to the intercom.

No response came from the intercom, all they knew next was the gates of the home opening, inviting them to walk up the tiled floor to the large house that they were once kept from.

"I didn't think she would be the one living here." Sayaka whispered.

"Really? I thought it was quite obvious." the luckster responded as they walked side by side to the large mahogany doors.

When they had arrived at the front of the door, the boy was about to knock but it had opened before he made contact. On the other side an elderly man wearing a butler's outfit had greeted them with a polite bow, afterwards he then led them inside and took them to a large room with an old english style furniture; he invited them to sit on the couch before he had left them to their own devices along with a tower of cookies and a pot of tea, but not without informing them that Elli was going to meet them soon.

"Man I feel like we've gone back in time." Sayaka commented her eyes darting from corner to corner of the room.

"It does give that feeling doesn't it? Oh look some western Victorian items." darting her head to the boy, she found him looking at some plates and other items that was closed off behind a cabinet.

"They aren't real, just replicas." a new voice joined.

Turning around the two were met with Elli who had entered the room, unlike before, however, she was now wearing what seemed to be a highschool school uniform.

"Oh welcome home?"

"Thank you Mr. Naegi." she replied before she ordered her butler to leave them.

When they had been left alone, the three then began to discuss the problem regarding the problem of her brother becoming a werewolf. From what they had gathered, Damian (Elli's brother) had recently began to transform once every two nights, he would proceed to rampage throughout the night and then collapse within their home. This confirmed that Damian was still 'young' in terms of being a werewolf so the luckster alleviated her concerns by explaining that for Damian its normal to go on a rampage in the first couple of weeks. However there was still one unanswered question that was still in the air.

"How come you're not a werewolf?" Elli looked at Sayaka confused, she couldn't actually give her an answer since she never figured that creatures like werewolves even existed.

"I don't think her brother's curse is because of genetics then." Makoto interjected.

"Huh?" both girls voiced as they turned to the boy.

"Hmm, do you two know how werewolves even came to be?" the two girls then shook their heads which prompted Makoto to relax back into the couch.

"Werewolves are also known as the children of man and dire wolves."

"Dire wolves? Like the giant, wolves that existed during the Ice age?"

"The same ones, but they still exist and they are far more than just giant wolves. They are children of the wolf Hati, you may know him from Norse mythology as the wolf that chases the moon, because of this Dire wolves are often hidden to humans because they can only be seen under the shine of the moon. Now as for werewolves, these cryptids are born when a dire wolf's spirit invades a human soul and plants itself within them, much like dire wolves and because of their link with Hati, they can only transform within the shine of the moon."

Sayaka and Elli were flabbergasted by the history of the werewolves, they did not think that werewolves would be so complex. Although Sayaka could follow her friend's explanation for the most part, Elli couldn't. The girl knew nothing about Norse myths, let alone animals that lived during the ice age, so how would one expect that she could follow a talk about a wolf that bore wolf children, whose spirits if linked with humans then leads to a werewolf? To many this may have been just total nonsense, yet for some reason Elli didn't feel as though she was being tricked, she believed in the luckster's words with no doubts, he seemed to know what he was talking about, there was no room for suspicion on her end.

"I know that was a lot to take in, but that's how it works. Anyways back to our werewolf problem, the reason why this particular werewolf is not due genes because: one, you are not a werewolf even though you are older and two, if it was genes then he would have been a werewolf from the beginning, so he shouldn't be going on a rampage at all, his transformation should still be under his control, but its not."

"So how did he become a werewolf then?"

"Weren't you listening? Someone must have planted a dire wolf spirit into your brother!" Makoto declared with certainty.

Speechless Elli stared at Makoto for an uncomfortable amount of time, it got to the point that Makoto began to blush from pure embarrassment. Elli then placed her cup of tea down before planting herself next to the luckster, she then took one of Makoto's hands into her own and looked at him in the eyes.

"I don't understand everything, but you seem to be quite knowledgeable about everything regarding these oddities. So I ask of you, please Naegi-san, help my brother! I will do anything, I want him free of this curse so I beg of you help him." she begged, clutching his hand tighter and her eyes beginning to shine from tears.

With a gentle smile Makoto nodded and told her he will do everything he can to make sure that her brother will no longer be a werewolf.

* * *

_**Happy thanksgiving everyone and if you don't celebrate thanksgiving hope you still had a good day/night. Now I've got some news but for now I wanna thank you all for reading the chapter and as usual: reviews, comments or criticisms are very welcome.**_

_**Now then the news:**_

_**These aren't massive but nevertheless I'll give you all the heads up.**_

_**We're nearing the next year and **__**I've planned what stories I would like to come out in 2020. So far I've only planned one new story to come out in January because Cryptid Investigations and Fallen Dragonslayer are not finished yet.**_

_**Coming to January 2020 is: Azur Lane - The New Era.**_

_**I'll talk about it more when it does come out but along with that either Cryptid Investigations or Fallen Dragonslayer will be running beside it. That decision I will leave up to you guys.**_

_**That's it I believe, hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I will see you all next chapter :)**_


	5. Case 5 - Separating Man and Beast

_**Here it is... after a long wait, the final chapter of this arc has arrived. Hope you all enjoy~**_

* * *

After Makoto swore to help Elli with her brother's curse, the girl took the pair of ultimates to her father's office where old family records were kept. There, she showed the endless collections of old books and folders that were just either stuffed into some cabinets or laid across the golden oak desk that rested at the very back of the office.

"Please help yourselves." Elli invited.

Without hesitation, Makoto gave his thanks before rummaging through the papers the Silver's family had. Sayaka soon followed suit, though feeling bad for just looking through someone else's stuff. She then grabbed a book from the many shelves to see if there was anything there regarding werewolves or whether Elli's family had dabbled on anything they shouldn't have.

Elli herself would help the pair search her father's office, but in order to not seem suspicious she would also leave the room from time to time in order as to not worry any of her subjects scattered within her home.

After an hour of searching, Makoto found an old tattered notebook that was hidden underneath some papers inside a drawer of the father's desk.

"Hey girls." Makoto called out. The two ladies made their way to the luckster and noticed the notebook.

"Well that seen better days." Sayaka commented jokingly.

Opening the notebook, everyone saw that the pages of the book had been doused in black ink with no words written on it. Sayaka groaned in annoyance, while Elli merely sighed disappointed.

Flipping through the pages, Makoto noticed that all of the pages were black, which made Makoto smirk, since the only reason a person would do this was if they were hiding something. The luckster then rubbed his fingers on the paper, he noticed that the paper had small indents, feeling the indents he realised they were the paths of letters. Also, when he took his fingers off the page, his fingertips were now black, he first rubbed them together, feeling a sandy texture before smelling the substance, from what he could deduce it had a charred smell, and it hit him. The pages weren't covered in ink, the pages were covered in…

"Charcoal."

"What was that Naegi-kun?"

"The pages aren't covered in ink. They're covered in charcoal." the boy then began to look for something frantically, when he couldn't find it he mimed it to the girls. Flicking his thumb while curling his fingers like he was holding something tiny.

"Uh, uh a lighter! I need a lighter, or anything that has a flame."

"We can use the stove."

"No no, that'll just bring us attention… My bunsen, I have a bunsen but I don't have it with me. We'll have to go to Hope's Peak to use it."

Looking at a nearby wall clock, the boy saw that they were running out of time so he proposed that they should meet at the park once again the next day so that they can make their way to Hope's Peak so that they can use Makoto's bunsen for whatever he had planned.

* * *

Walking back to Hope's Peak Sayaka was discussing the werewolf further with Makoto. She was curious as to how Makoto managed to deduce that the werewolf wasn't genetics based just from listening to Elli. In response Makoto admitted that although he still had doubts, he sensed that Elli could not have been lying to them, she too was lost and surprised about the information that was dumped on her, so it seemed less plausible that she was a werewolf as well. Sayaka still wasn't convinced, yet she just decided to place her faith in her fellow ultimate, after all between the two of them he was the most experienced and knowledgeable about cryptids.

During that night, Sayaka was reading about werewolves in her room. She flicked through the pages of the book, skimming through the words before letting a frustrated sigh escape her lips. She rested her hands on her belly and stared at the ceiling, she reminisced all her experience regarding the werewolf. Fittingly, she found herself smiling at the scenes of them being chased as well as meeting Elli.

"Worth it." she voiced contented.

Makoto was also in his room sitting in front of his work desk with a bunch of plain white paper laid around along with cylinders of charcoal. He was putting paper over the pages of the journal and using the charcoal he tried to trace the words unto the paper, unfortunately he barely had any words even appear on the paper.

Groaning in frustration, the luckster tossed the paper to side where it dropped onto a pile of other failed attempts at trying to trace words onto paper.

"Guess making a copy is out of the question." the luckster then went over to a couple of shelves, where multiple vials, jars of who knows what rested along with a variety of equipment.

Taking a couple of the vials off the shelf together with a pestle and mortar. He placed the items on his desk, he then opened a drawer beside his desk and pulled out an old looking book with a golden phoenix symbol on the cover.

Rummaging through the shelves some more, the boy grabbed: a scalpel, some jars of herbs and a glass flask. When he had everything he needed, the boy sat back down and began to mix the ingredients together with the help of the book he had gotten from the drawer.

The end product was a clear liquid which he then mixed with some scraped off charcoal from the journal. When it had made contact with the solution, it turned the liquid black before a puff of smoke escaped the flask. Within the smoke the luckster saw streaks of golden light disappear with the fumes.

"Ok so my hunch was right, its laced with magic. Hopefully there's enough of it in the pages that it won't ignite the entire page when it comes into contact with a flame."

Next morning was exactly as the two had predicted, they were interrogated by their classmates about their whereabouts. Lying through her teeth, Sayaka told them that Makoto just took her to a bookstore for a new book to read. Luckily for them the students of class 78 believed her; well, at least the ones that they wanted to trick.

When they could get a breather, the two discussed Makoto's findings about the journal. It was no surprise that the idol would end up fangirling at the mention of magic; her pupils turned into stars as she began to daydream about wizards, witches and druids.

"Magic is nothing like what's in your head." Makoto interrupted.

"What?" snapping her out of her fantasy, Sayaka's glee quickly turned into confused that is laced with disappointment. To the point where the phrase 'please tell me you're lying' was written all over her profile.

"Magic is not a flick of a wand, its kinda like chemistry: mixing of different herbs, chemicals and parts." the lucky student made clear. Though this didn't sit well with Sayaka.

"Tha-that's not magic! That's just science calling itself magic!"

"Well not necessarily because real magic, even though its chemistry, its a kind of science doesn't normally exist in this world, in fact it cannot be done in any other way; there's only one way of producing any magic."

Sayaka was not convinced by the luckster's explanation, to her it still sounded like something done in a lab. Wanting to make the distinction clear, Makoto gave her an example of a growing plant: scientifically the only way a plant would be to give it nutrients, sun and water. This isn't the case with magic, through magic a person can create a way for plants to grow instantaneously.

"I'm still not convinced." Sayaka informed throwing her hands in the air.

"Well maybe I can show you one day." Makoto said a little excited to show her true magic.

* * *

When the school day ended, the two ultimates made their way to the old building where Makoto, instead of heading inside, made his way to the back where Elli was waiting for them to arrive to pick her up.

"Come in." the luckster pushed the cut wire out of the way for the girl to enter.

When she was in, they made no breaks, heading straight inside and to the old principals office, where they found Sayaka setting up the equipment that was there.

While the two girls caught up with their day, the luckster finished setting up his equipment. During their conversation, Elli heard a small whine which made her turn her head around the room, only not to see what could have made the noise.

"Oh Gizmo." turning her head to Sayaka, Elli saw the little furball that was cuddled around the idol's arms. Elli couldn't keep her eyes from shining in wonder and seeing her interest, Sayaka invited her to cuddle Gizmo as well just through handing the little guy to the other girl.

"Ok all done."

The two girls made their way to Makoto who had his bunsen burner connected to a portable gas tank. When he asked where in the world he managed to get it, the luckster answered that Hope's Peak is prepared for any talent.

"Now then."

Turning the bunsen on, Makoto took a small plate of scraped up charcoal and placed it above the dancing flame. Everyone paid attention, but after about 30 seconds of nothing happening, Maizono called the experiment a bust. However she was quickly scolded by Makoto who told her to gain some patience; as if on cue as well, when Makoto told the idol off, the charcoal began to glow a bright golden colour as if it were a light bulb ready to explode.

"Woah!"

"Amazing."

Was all the girls could say as they gazed at the beauty of the light. When that was done Makoto then nonchalantly took the notebook, and opened it so that the collection of pages were bunched together while the covers were separated. He hovered the pages above the flame letting devour the black paper.

At first Elli was worried about letting Makoto set her father's notebook on fire, but if it held some secret that will help her brother then she'll take the risk.

As the flames ate the pages, the letters that Makoto felt when he first touched the book began to show themselves through a golden shine. When the fire died down the pages were now covered with glowing letters.

"Well would you look at that."

Makoto turned his bunsen off, then placed the notebook on the table flat. Everyone's head surrounded the book as they looked at the letters which were written in cursive and French. Realising this, the luckster turned to their outsider friend asking her if she can read it.

Luckily for them she could, so taking the book in her arms, Elli began to read the words and dictate them to the others. In the book it mentioned the greatest regret Elli's father ever made, angering his mother. According to her father's recordings, the Silvers family has a history in witchcraft and because of this, when Elli's father argued with her grandmother: the last active witch of the family, it led to a curse being placed on the family.

The curse: Elli's father's first born son will have the blood and soul of the moon. They will be a raging beast that will devour all in its path, its hunger never ending.

"Alright we have everything we need." Makoto interrupted before going into a thinking pose.

Elli closed the book, a silence befell the three teens as they lamented on what was written. But no one felt more sorrow or anger than Elli herself, who began to curse her grandmother in her mind for putting her brother in such a state. Noticing the fury building up within the girl, Makoto assured her that there is a way to reverse the curse.

"There is?" Sayaka blurted in shock.

"Well yeah, though witchcraft is a bit harder to breaker than regular magic." Makoto answered turning to the idol.

"Why's that?" the idol questioned, an eyebrow raised.

"Witchcraft dabbles in making magic by using everything and anything: whether its blood, organs or even an entire person. Witchcraft doesn't discriminate any ingredient, for witches everything is an ingredient."

Elli and Sayaka's eyes widened in shock at the list of what witches would use, but even though she looked shocked, Sayaka was not that surprised from what she read it seemed normal. Elli on the other hand, she felt a chill run down her spine at the mention of a human life becoming an ingredient.

"So those chants in books about eyes of newts, are accurate?"

"Well yes, witchcraft is an old practice. Its been recorded for centuries, so its not surprising that the depiction in media is accurate."

"Wait, how come you and Maizono-san are so calm about this?!" Elli exclaimed, her breathing erratic. She just couldn't fathom how they could be so calm about the entire thing!

Sayaka and Makoto glanced at each other, before the idol then explained how much of a nerd she was about the occult or anything other wordly. While Makoto merely answered her question by telling her that growing up he read many books about anything that wouldn't be part of the regular world.

Elli wasn't sure whether she should've been impressed or weirded out by how the two talked about those topics as if they were part of normal life. But, a part of her was relieved that they knew what they were doing, since it meant the chances of her brother being saved was much higher than she initially thought.

* * *

When the sun was about to set Makoto told Elli that she should go home as to not arise suspicion, he also tried to return the notebook to her but she refused to accept it, stating he should keep it since it most likely held more things that could help them break her brother's curse. With a smile and nod, Makoto retracted his offer then placed the book in his bag, before he and Sayaka led Elli back to the exit so that she could return home.

Seeing as they had some free time to themselves the two ultimates went to the school's library to check for any books that might help them break the curse.

During their travel to the library, Makoto inquired what Sayaka thought about seeing magic for the first time. Sayaka admitted that although it looked good enough, it still felt like science. This made Makoto giggle, telling the girl that she was impossible to impress.

At the library Sayaka gathered a tower of books regarding everything fantasy. When she sat down with Makoto, she immediately demonstrated just how quick she could read the entire tower. With some fake glasses and enough concentration, she managed to blitz through the entire pile in just under ten minutes. Meanwhile Makoto was taking his time, taking notes as he moved through the pages with an extremely analytical gaze.

"How about this?" Sayaka called, showing a page she read to her friend.

"In order to break a curse, you must remind them of their most fondest memories." Makoto read the page before shaking his head at the girl, who just sunk back into her seat in disappointment.

"Unfortunately, this isn't a fairy tale so those ever so kind and hopeful ideas aren't exactly practical… most of the time." the luckster explained.

Returning to his own book, Makoto continued to make notes about the things he found that were relevant and true. From what he could tell, the book that were in Hope's Peak were surprisingly accurate, which was a rare find. Flipping through the pages some more, Makoto suddenly raised from his chair and slammed his hands on the desk, wearing an expression of great awe.

"Wh-what?!" Sayaka exclaimed, shocked by the luckster's sudden outburst.

The luckster began to murmur something under his breath, causing the idol to lean requesting to repeat what he had just said.

"I found our solution!"

* * *

Elli and the ultimates gathered in the park dressed in their night outfits for when they go out to look for Damian when he was munching on dead dogs.

Makoto was on floor drawing something on the dirt with a large stick while the girls watched in confusion. Elli asked Sayaka, who was standing beside her, if she knew what the luckster was doing to which the idol just shook her head, admitting that she was just as lost.

"Okay all done." the boy said, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow.

When the girls took a look at what the luckster drew they noticed it oddly resembled a magic circle. With runes around the circle and a hexagram in the middle.

"Wha-? Are we summoning a demon or something?" Sayaka questioned slightly terrified.

"What? No, we're gonna lure Elli's brother here so that we can revert him back to human." the two girls shared a look of uncertainty between them, which the luckster caught so he slowly explained to them what was happening as to not worry that the process was dangerous.

"Its simple, we're just gonna get him in the middle of the circle then when he's in the middle we're gonna set this thing on fire and that will revert the curse-"

Before he could fully finish his explanation, the luckster's collar was pulled and he was then inches away from the azure eyes of Sayaka who looked furious.

"Set him on fire?" she asked softly, though one could easily pick up the venom laced within the words she uttered.

"Look, there's only two ways of getting rid of this curse: either, we go back to whoever placed it in him, or we force the two spirits apart from each other. I'm pretty sure the first option is out the window."

Sayaka released Makoto, she then signed for him to keep going which the boy gladly took as he then began to explain how they were going to execute the entire thing.

Elsewhere, the large werewolf had begun its hunt. With saliva already dripping from the corners of its mouth, the large beast roamed the darkened streets; its eyes darting from side to side, while its nose twitched trying to pick up a scent.

"Hey!" a voice called out.

Turning around the wolf's hungry eyes locked onto the figure of Sayaka Maizono who stood below a lampost. The idol then began to taunt the werewolf, angering it in the process, which then made the beast charge at her in a blitz, panting in hunger.

"Uh oh." quickly sprinting away, Sayaka led the furious beast along the empty streets, screaming in her head about how she was going to make a certain someone pay for using her as a means to get the werewolf.

For most of her run, Sayaka was completely calm, thinking she was managing a good distance between her and the werewolf. However when she turned her head to look back, she was met with the terrible red eyes of the beast that was close enough to chomp her backside with no effort.

Eyes widening in horror Sayaka, ran for her life, arms flailing about and tears streaming out of her eyes.

As the idol was running around, Makoto and Elli were back at the park waiting for the idol to deliver the werewolf to them. While waiting Elli asked the luckster if the separation process, was safe, to which the boy informed that it was indeed safe. Though the dark did hide the small trickle of sweat that travelled down the luckster's cheek.

Soon after their short conversation ended, the two were met by the sprinting Sayaka, still bawling her eyes out with a hungry werewolf on her tail.

"Get him in the circle." Makoto called out.

"I know." the idol cried out as she leapt in the middle of the circle while Makoto ignited a match.

Leaping with great power, the werewolf bared its fangs ready to bite at the idol, who due to fear was frozen in the middle of the circle. If it wasn't for the luckster quickly grabbing then pulling her away, she would've been the beast's first human meal. The werewolf fell to the dirt since its attack failed and the luckster took this golden opportunity to toss the lit match into the circle, causing it to ignite in a brilliant colour of burning orange.

The flames consumed its caught prey, making it howl in pain. Outside the fire, Elli was clutching her wrist with her fist pressing on her chest, as her eyes stared at the flames in worry. Hearing her brother writhe in pain while she watched in safety was torment to her mentality; she wanted to pull him out, but she stood her ground knowing it was going to help Damian escape his dark nightmare.

After a long minute of hearing pained screaming and writhing, the flames suddenly amped up, turning into a large pillar of raging crimson waves. The three teens stepped back as to not get burned by the intense heat. From within the flames, the werewolf was clutching its body, swinging it around vigorously before it threw its head towards the sky and roared loudly; a ghostly wolf then escaped the body of the beast, soaring to the empty night sky, disappearing from existence.

When the flame pillar died down, the three teens saw that in the circle was no longer a hungry, ravenous beast, but instead it was a young boy with silver hair, who was also top naked.

"Damian." Elli ran to her brother's side, cradling his sleeping body in her arms.

"Is he ok?" the idol asked as she and the luckster joined Elli's side.

"He seems to be fine, just asleep."

"That's good."

"Will he finally be normal again?" Elli asked turning her head to Makoto.

"I can assure you that he's one hundred percent human. Though your problem now is his mental state."

"Mental state?"

"Even if he's no longer a werewolf, he was still the werewolf who went around eating dogs. Not to mention that he was completely feral, meaning that Damian had to watch as he ate a living animal alive. Although he hadn't eaten a human, the entire experience must have been tiring."

The older Silvers glanced at her brother, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She thought it was all over, that she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore, but the world was cruel to him. It wanted to watch him suffer more, never letting the young boy live his life in innocence, only in despair.

"That said, I highly doubt that he won't heal." the luckster added, causing Elli to quickly turn to him, hope enveloping her irises.

"With such a caring sister around, there's no reason that he will continue to live his life in despair. Though I'm not a therapist, I know that just being with loved ones is a medicine that will cure any injury."

Sayaka couldn't help but smile at her friend's words, he didn't know Elli yet he said such kind words to her with little hesitation. Elli on the other hand, was staring at the boy with widened eyes; she was about to give up, she thought there was no longer a way for her brother to ever live a normal life anymore.

"Some sister I am. Giving up on Damian just because of a little scare."

"You're right Naegi-kun, Damian is going to be in a lot of pain being reminded these awful past few weeks. I shouldn't be here crying my eyes out, I'm going to be strong for him and make sure that all of this will just be a distant memory."

"I know you will, throughout the short time I've known you, I've seen a flame in your eyes that wouldn't die out. Your love for your brother will prevail any nightmare." the older Silvers, stared at her sleeping sibling in relief, hugging him close to her chest.

After this Makoto nor Sayaka had met with Elli for some time, they thought to give the girl her space in order to let her settle things with her family first. 3 weeks then passed before Elli visited Hope's Peak personally, asking in the front gates if she could converse with the two ultimates who helped her.

Informed by the visit the two made their way to the front gates, where Makoto secretly messaged her to go to the back so that they could go to the old building and discuss Elli's visit more privately.

Following Makoto's orders, Elli made her way to the back of the school where she slipped by the open fence and sneaked her way into the old building then to the old principal's office where she took a seat at the old sofa, waiting for the two ultimates to come to her.

The doors swung open as Sayaka charged into the room just to engulf Elli into a tight hug, to which the other girl returned happily with her own gentler embrace.

"Its good to see you again. How have you been?" the idol questioned in glee.

"Everything has been amazing, Damian is now back to being himself, though he does get the rare nightmare here and there."

"He's recovered faster than I anticipated, this is amazing news." Makoto interjected.

"Oh Naegi-kun, I talked to my father about the past week and although I didn't slip your name, I had told him about your feat."

"Oh? What did he say?"

"He was shocked to say the least, he was mumbling to himself on the phone like he had just heard something unbelievable. I also heard say something under his breath in fear."

"What's that?"

"I don't know it sounded like a name, Nekorma or something along those lines."

Makoto went into a thinking pose before his expression changed to that of someone who just a revelation, then it quickly morphed into a small smirk. The luckster then informed Elli that she had nothing to worry about,since whatever her father was mumbling he had a vague idea of what it was. Curious as to what it could be, the two girls interrogated the boy about what he knew, but Makoto only left them with a mysterious answer.

"Not my place to reveal what it could be, since its a secret that is kept by the world."

"T_he cursed scholar who roamed the ancient world and studied every cryptid that lived. That who stole knowledge from the ancient gods. Feared by the heavens, and revered by the earth. Live, the shadow of the earth and the ancient world._ "

* * *

_**Happy New Year everyone... though it is just a tiny bit late. First and foremost, hope everyone had a great holiday and a great new year, I know mine was a mess. Secondly, I must thank you all for your patience, its been over a month since my last update, which was completely unplanned. I was sick during the Christmas period, so that was great, then the first weeks of January I had exams so I was studying my butt off. Now, I'm only going to get busier so I'm not so sure how much time I'll be able to put into writing but I will try and put as much as possible, since I do enjoy making stories for everyone and myself included.**_

_**Ok, so the terrible excuses are out of the way, let's talk about stories! Cryptid Investigations has now finished its first (small) arc. Its now going to be put on hold so that I can start publishing other stories, I have at least two new ones lined up, ready to be published and Fallen Dragonslayer's new chapter is now under development. I hope maybe by next week I'll be able to get the new chapter up, but in the instance I don't then maybe around the end of the month or the first week of February, no later I promise you all that. **_

_**As for Cryptid Investigations, its just gonna be put on hold for a while, I'm still wondering whether to keep doing small arcs like this one or go big arc, so until I settle that with myself its going to be on hold.**_

_**I think that's it for this chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it, I know it may not be the greatest of endings but I thought it was appropriate since I want to keep going with the story. Don't forget, reviews, criticisms and every single type of comment is very welcome in this story, so don't be shy get in that comment section and bombard it with things straight from the heart!**_

_**Once again, thank you so much for your great patience and I will see you all in Fallen Dragonslayer :)**_


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